Program

Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities Advancement Grants

Period of Performance

9/1/2020 - 6/30/2022

Funding Totals

$79,568.00 (approved)
$79,510.00 (awarded)


PlacePress: A WordPress Plugin for Publishing Location-based Tours and Stories

FAIN: HAA-271574-20

Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH 44115-2214)
J. Mark Souther (Project Director: January 2020 to September 2020)
J. Mark Souther (Project Director: September 2020 to present)
Erin Bell (Co Project Director: May 2020 to present)

The development, testing, and release of PlacePress, a plugin for WordPress, for designing and launching digital public humanities projects. 

We seek a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant to develop PlacePress, a WordPress plugin that enables humanities scholars, content experts, or organizations to create and share interpretive location-based tours and stories easily, affordably, and sustainably using the world's most ubiquitous content management system. The project will generate three use cases in collaboration with institutional partners in support of ongoing public humanities initiatives, as well as usability testing with a focus group drawn from identified target users.



Media Coverage

Green Book Cleveland rewriting city’s Black history, finding lost sites (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Brenda Cain
Publication: The Plain Dealer
Date: 2/28/2022
Abstract: Front-page article in Cleveland's leading newspaper about the Green Book Cleveland project that uses the PlacePress plugin developed with NEH support.
URL: http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/02/green-book-cleveland-rewriting-citys-black-history-finding-lost-sites.html

Green Book Cleveland (Media Coverage)
Publication: The Sound of Ideas
Date: 2/7/2022
Abstract: The second half of this edition of The Sound of Ideas (a morning radio program on Cleveland's NPR affiliate) featured an interview with PlacePress grant director Mark Souther and two graduate students who curated content for the Green Book Cleveland project that uses the NEH-funded PlacePress plugin.
URL: http://www.ideastream.org/programs/sound-of-ideas/cleveland-businesses-go-green-with-deconstruction-rather-than-demolition

'We should share these stories and lift them up': Green Book Cleveland highlights forgotten places of the past (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Karlynn Wells
Publication: Spectrum News Ohio
Date: 2/22/2022
Abstract: This television interview with NEH grant project director Mark Souther and two graduate students introduces Green Book Cleveland, one of the first digital projects developed using the NEH-funded PlacePress plugin.
URL: http://spectrumnews1.com/oh/cleveland/news/2022/02/21/green-book-cleveland-highlights-history-

SCENE & HEARD 'Cleveland Green Book' Project Is Mapping and Further Documenting Black Entertainment in Northeast Ohio From the 1930s to 1960s (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Vince Grzegorek
Publication: Cleveland Scene
Date: 1/21/2022
Abstract: This newspaper feature is a lightly edited interview with project director Mark Souther on the Green Book Cleveland project that piloted the NEH-funded PlacePress plugin.
URL: http://www.clevescene.com/news/cleveland-green-book-project-is-mapping-and-further-documenting-black-entertainment-in-northeast-ohio-from-the-1930s-to-1960s-38119954-38119954



Associated Products

Green Book Cleveland (Web Resource)
Title: Green Book Cleveland
Author: Mark Souther et al.
Abstract: Green Book Cleveland maps and further document Cleveland and Northeast Ohio sites that appeared in the Green Book guides for Black travelers in the 1930s-60s, as well as other notable places of African American leisure, recreation, and entertainment that were active during the Green Book era. Green Book Cleveland showcases research done by Dr. Mark Souther and his students in the Department of History at Cleveland State University and is one of the pilot projects for the PlacePress plugin developed the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities at Cleveland State University under a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: http://greenbookcleveland.placinghistory.org

PlacePress (Computer Program)
Title: PlacePress
Author: Erin J. Bell
Abstract: PlacePress, a modern WordPress plugin, adds Location and Tour post types, structured map blocks (for single and global locations), structured tour stop blocks, and custom taxonomies.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://wordpress.org/plugins/placepress/
Primary URL Description: WordPress Plugin Directory page
Secondary URL: http://wpplacepress.org
Secondary URL Description: The PlacePress website is the primary discovery site for the plugin. It offers a robust user guide, accessibility statement demo site, and project showcase.
Access Model: Open source
Source Available?: Yes